A police search of a suspicious van that turned up a rifle and silencer was illegal, lawyers for a Metairie man facing federal weapons charges said.

A motion filed Monday in federal court seeks to block prosecutors from using evidence found during a search conducted following a traffic stop of Dominck Gullo and convicted racketeer Joseph Gagliano in May outside Gullo's house.

Deputies had no warrant or probable cause to search the van, an hour-long "inventory" during which officers discovered sawed-off chairs facing out of sliding glass windows installed in the cargo area, a loaded .22-caliber rifle with a scope and silencer.

A JPSO officer pulled the van over after receiving a tip that it had stolen license plates, a police report from May states.

Gullo, 72, was ticketed for the stolen plates, and the van was impounded. A month later, he was charged in federal court for receiving and unregistered firearm. Gagliano, 55, the son of reputed New Orleans mob underboss Frank Gagliano, has two prior convictions for racketeering and was charged with aiding in the illegal transport of a firearm by a felon.

Authorities have not said what they suspect the men might have been planning to do with the van and rifle, but prosecutors asked that Gullo and Gagliano be held without bond. Both men have been in federal custody since June, though Gullo's attorney has said he is in failing health and requested he be transferred to a medical facility.

Gullo owns a company that hosts poker tournaments in Louisiana and Nevada, and has no prior criminal record, his attorney said.

According to a JPSO report on the traffic stop, Gullo told deputies he bought the van earlier that day for $300 from a woman whom he met in a coffee shop. Gullo had valid insurance that covered the van, his lawyer said. A copy of Gullo's insurance card, for a Volvo registered in Nevada. The van is a Ford.

According to the JPSO report from the stop, the rifle was folded in a piece of carpet in the back of the van, and the silencer was in a side compartment. Gullo and Gagliano said they had not looked in the back of the van.